Masks and Midnight
by three-days-late
Summary: Alfred and Matthew Kirkland do some epic party crashing at their business rival, Ivan Braginski's, party. Alfred never expected to fall for Braginski's sister though.


**I wrote this forever ago for a crackship contest on livejournal, but never posted it here. Since I'm spending the summer cleaning up my computer files, I figured it was time.**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Arthur Kirkland was the head of one of the most powerful companies in the world. No one messed with him or his business. Everyone knew this, and if they didn't, they soon learned it, even if some just took a bit longer to learn than others.

Like Ivan Braginski. Braginski was new to the game of business, a game that Arthur had mastered while he was still in diapers, but even Arthur had to admit the kid had talent. He was cold, ruthless, and ambitious, but that only served to help him in the long run.

Braginski was young, Braginski was new. Arthur, while being legendary in his own right, was getting older and more out of touch the longer he was on his pedestal. Most people assumed that Braginski would soon completely over take Arthur and toss him off that pedestal in a way that Arthur could only experience humiliation and crushing defeat. They should have known better, as Arthur never gives up without a fight, even if it isn't him who's doing the actually fighting.

Thus the business world was introduced to Alfred Kirkland, the young, upstart, idealistic son of Arthur Kirkland. Arthur introduced him to the board under the guise of 'showing him the ropes so that one day he can take over the family business,' but most of them saw what was really going on; Alfred was the new poster boy, the perfect counter to the threat of Braginski.

Alfred was young and new, and therefore full of young and new ideas. Some of them were completely ridiculous ('No Alfred, we can't build a rocket ship out of hamburgers,') but most were, well, genius. Combined with Arthur's endless resources and initiative, the two made quite an unstoppable Father-Son team, one that Braginski could barely keep up with.

Barely being the key word there, as he did always manage to keep up, one way or another.

The Kirklands were known for the extravagant ways in which they celebrated even the most mundane events. The birthdays and achievements of various family members were to be expected, but when you're throwing a huge ball simply because your other son's pet polar bear finally acknowledged him, well, that's pushing it. Of course, the Kumajiro Costume Ball ended up becoming a huge success both socially and financially and somehow became an annual thing.

Point being, Alfred and Matthew (the other Kirkland son) were used to extravagant parties to the point where they were almost a way of life. So when Ivan Braginski announced that he would be throwing a Masquerade Ball for his sister Natalia's birthday, well, Alfred and Matthew were curious. The Kirklands were invited, of course, for publicity reasons, and Arthur 'regretfully' declined, but that was in no way going to stop the boys from showing up.

"Alfred, are you sure this is a good idea?" Matthew asked as his brother scaled the Braginskis' outer wall, mask, tux and all. Matt was dressed similarly, but preferred to remain on the ground for the time being. "Dad's going to kill us if he finds out we're party crashing _Ivan's_ party."

"Relax Mattie, it'll be fine," he pulled himself on top of the wall and found a study vine to lower to his brother. "Dad's not going to find out, not if everything goes according to plan."

"Very few of your plans ever actually go according to plan…"

"This one will."

Matt shot him a glare as he joined him at the top of the wall, but Alfred ignored it as he jumped down, followed shortly by his brother's plop by his side. They wandered across the grounds to the house and arrived at the servant's entrance in the rear. Alfred knocked softly three times and the door was opened by Braginski's assistant and Alfred's childhood friend, Toris.

"Ivan's planning a masks-off dance at midnight," Toris explained as he let them in, "If either of takes your mask off, you'll be instantly recognized."

"So we should leave before midnight," Matt explained to his brother. Toris nodded.

"That is, unless you want to drop this whole thing right now."

"Psh, we're already here," Alfred proclaimed, "We're doing this, and we'll meet you back here at midnight."

* * *

Bragniski's manor was gorgeously decorated; even the two brothers had to admit that. The atmosphere was light and friendly and somehow reminiscent of Ivan's Russian background. There were scores of people dancing in the main ballroom, but just as many were in other parts of the house mingling or eating. Matt and Alfred took it all in with an appraising eye.

"Well, look who we have here," Matthew jumped and turned, afraid they were caught. A white-haired man with red eyes who was dressed in a black suit was leaning against a nearby wall, smirking at them while petting a yellow chick.

"E-excuse me?"

"I don't think I've ever seen you around," he said, "I'd remember a face that cute."

Matt blushed. Alfred laughed, "He's wearing a mask! How can you even tell?"

"I'm just awesome like that," he shrugged.

"Where's your mask? This is a masquerade ball after all," Matt asked.

"If your face was this awesome, would you want to cover it us?" Suddenly he stopped petting the chick, which took its cue and jumped up to settle on his head, and walked over. "Gilbert Beilschmidt. I suppose you could say I'm a friend of the family, but you'd just be kidding yourself."

"Nice to meet you Mr. Beilschmidt," Matthew tentatively shook his hand.

"Kesese," he laughed, "You can just call me Gilbert, cutie. You know, I've just decided right now that you're awesome enough to be seen with me. C'mon, let's go." Gilbert grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the crowd.

"But-wait-"

"Have fun!" Alfred called after him, not lifting a finger as his brother was dragged away by some stranger. Matthew glared at him before he disappeared into the crowd.

Alfred chuckled at his brother's fate for a moment before realizing he was hungry. He set off on a mission to find out where Braginski stashed the food.

After getting turned around a few times (it wasn't his fault, Braginski's house was huge) Alfred somehow found himself upstairs and foodless. He wandered aimlessly through the hallway until he stopped outside one of the rooms. Someone was crying, and his hero senses wouldn't let him leave without fixing the problem somehow.

Slowly he peeked into the room and saw a beautiful pale-blonde woman with short hair, wearing an elegant, sky blue, sleeveless dress, matching mask, and silver heels, crying her eyes out by a sink. Well that wasn't right.

He saw her reach out and grab a knife that was on the counter and raise it above her head as if she was going to-

"No don't!" Alfred called out and bolted into the room before he could stop himself. She turned to look at him, the sobbing done with but tears still falling from her eyes.

"W-What are you talking about?" she tentatively asked.

"Well, just…that knife…I may not know what exactly is going on here, but suicide's not the answer!"

"It's my sister's," she explained, "and I was just cleaning it for her." She giggled, "Unless you have something against helping your sister?"

"I…um…" well he certainly felt stupid, and he was certain he was blushing now, "you were crying…"

"Ah, well," now it was her turn to blush as she wiped away any remaining tears from her eyes behind her mask, "…that really doesn't have anything to do with this. I should probably ask you, what are you doing in the girls' bathroom?"

"Huh?" Alfred poked his head outside the door and sure enough a sign had been placed there for the party, indicating that this particular bathroom was reserved for women for the night. "Ah, well…" he blushed harder if that was possible, "I was looking for some food, and I got a little lost I suppose."

"I could show you where the food is."

"Really? Nice! You're a life saver-"

"But, in return, you can't tell anyone you saw me crying, okay?"

"Anything! I'm so hungry right now you could ask me to kill a guy and I'd be okay with it. Besides heroes never squeal."

"Oh, so you're a hero now?"

"Of course I am! Why else would I intrude on such a beautiful lady that I thought was in trouble?"

It was her turn to blush again. "I'm wearing a mask. How can you even tell?"

"Um…I'm just awesome like that?"

"Now you sound like Gilbert," she giggled while putting down the knife and taking his hand. "Come on, Mr. Hero, I can hear your stomach growling from here."

She led Alfred down a series of hallways and doors he instantly forgot until she opened one door to reveal the buffet table.

"Sweet!" He wasted no time in snatching a plate and piling it with a little bit of everything. The woman joined him, although her portion was a bit less than his.

"I don't think I've met you before, have I?" she asked after a while.

"No, probably not. I'm a friend of Toris's."

"Well Mr. Friend of Toris, do you have a name?"

"Of course I do," he said, and didn't explain further.

"And that would be?"

Alfred thought for a moment, "This is a masquerade ball, is it not? It's supposed to be mysterious. I don't want to ruin the atmosphere with something as trivial as names."

"I have to call you something though."

"I suppose you do. You may call me Mr. Jones."

"Mr. Jones then is it? If that's the case then you can call me Ms. Alrovskaya."

"Miss Alro…Alfro…Alrof…maybe I should just call you Miss A?"

She giggled again, he was starting to love that sound. "If you insist."

They got to talking, the topic steering clear of what exactly they did, which Alfred was just fine with; it was too soon to be kicked out. Miss A had a little brother and a younger sister that she always worried about. He could relate to that of course, he had a little brother as well. Where was he anyway? Wherever he was, Alfred was sure he was having fun.

"Hey," he asked suddenly, "would like to dance?"

"I would love to." She took his hand and led him through the house until they arrived at the dance floor.

Alfred wasn't planning on dancing at this thing. His father had attempted to drill some sort of dancing etiquette into him when he was young so he wouldn't be a complete embarrassment on the dance floor, but the lessons never really stuck with him. She quickly figured this out and gently took over the lead, and he found that he didn't really mind following her lead. She was a good dancer, graceful, like a ballerina…

Suddenly a hand grabbed his shoulder and squeezed hard. The song had ended and he hadn't even realized, so Alfred slowly turned around to find a pair of icy purple eyes hidden behind a mask. There was only one man he knew who had eyes like that.

"I see you've found someone to play with tonight, Katyusha," Braginski smiled at her. She blushed and looked away, "but I don't think I've ever seen him before," the grip on his shoulder tightened to a point that would have caused a weaker man to scream bloody murder. Alfred merely grimaced.

"He's a friend of Toris's, Ivan," Katyusha responded, "so there's no need to-"

"Ah, well if he's a friend of Toris's, I wonder why he's not with Toris, rather than here. Alone. With my sister."

There went any hope of probably the most awesome girl he'd ever met not being linked to Braginski in anyway. Sometimes Alfred's life really sucked.

"Toris is a little busy right now," Alfred responded, "but I'm sure you understand. You're his boss right?" In one swift motion, he turned around, forcing the hand to relinquish his shoulder, and gripped that hand in a firm shake. "The name's Fred Jones. It's nice to finally meet you Mr. Braginski."

Braginski's eyes widened, then slanted into an intense glare, his smile never wavering, "Jones was it? It's nice to meet you too, but I must say, I feel like I've met you somewhere before."

"I get that a lot, to tell you the truth," Alfred laughed, "I must have one of those faces."

"I can't see your face," Ivan reminded him, "but your eyes are rather familiar."

Damnit. His father always told him his eyes were too damn expressive.

"Blue is a common eye color Ivan," Katyusha pointed out.

"I supposed," he let the matter, and Alfred's hand, drop, "but you seem a little too happy dancing here with my sister." Not once did he blink or look away. Neither did Alfred, despite the whole eye-recognizing thing. He was just stubborn like that.

"Can you blame me? She's probably the most gorgeous thing in the room, um, I mean," Alfred blushed and waved his hands in front of him. How could he lose face like that in front of Braginski of all people? "I mean…she's a very nice lady."

"The nicest, I can account for that myself." Braginski's smiled grew, and the temperature in the room dropped about twenty degrees as he grabbed his shoulder again, this time actually causing Alfred physical distress, not that he showed it, "I'd just _hate_ _it_ if anything happened to make her upset in the slightest."

 _Pretty sure she'd like me in one piece thank you very much,_ Alfred thought, but said nothing.

"Ah, Natalia!" Katyusha waved at someone over Braginski's shoulder, "There you are!"

"Where?" Braginski let go of Alfred and looked around, panicking slightly. "I just got away from her and everything, ah, excuse me, Mr. Jones, Sister, I have something I need to take care of on the other side of the house now," with that, he slunk away.

Katyusha quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him outside onto a large patio area, complete with its own rose garden and ten foot tall fountain churning out water. When they had gotten far enough away so that the music from instead was only a faint beat, she let go of his hand and sat down on the side of the fountain.

"Sorry about that, Ivan can be a bit, protective." She looked down and started tracing pattering in the stone next to her.

"That's alright. I'd probably do the same if I saw some creep all over my brother." Speaking of, where was Matt at? Probably off having fun, he decided.

"I suppose, but now that you know my name, the whole mysterious aspect of the night is gone."

"So?" Alfred sat down next to her, "I don't care if you're a Braginski," and he really didn't, "you're still the most amazing, uh," he coughed awkwardly and turned away blushing.

They sat in silence for a bit after that before Alfred just had to break it.

"Why were you crying before?"

Katyusha turned to look at him, but he firmly remained facing away. "I-I'm not trying to pry," he said quickly, blush creeping onto his face. "I just,want to know. And hey maybe, I can help make it so it doesn't happen anymore, because I don't want to see it again."

She continued looking at him for a bit, eyes steadily growing gentler and more understanding, "Boys have a tendency to, like me, I suppose. Some of them are real jerks, but most of them are rather nice and I enjoy talking with them or dancing with them. Ivan is a bit, well, you saw. It's very hard to make friends, and sometimes it can get frustrating."

Katyusha touched his cheek and turned his head so Alfred was staring into her eyes.

"Thank you for standing up to him. It really means a lot to me, even if that wasn't your intention."

Alfred smiled, "That's what heroes do."

"Would it be too much to ask to see the face of my hero? Just once, please?"

He hesitated, but at least she wasn't asking for his name. He might be able to get away with this much.

"Close your eyes," he asked, slowly removing her hand from his face. She grinned and complied.

Quickly and quietly, Alfred removed his mask and glasses. Nobody ever recognized Clark Kent without them, after all, so surely the same would work here, right?

He brought Katyusha's hand to his lips and gave her fingers a soft kiss before saying, "You can open them now."

She did, and he waited for the slap to the face or the screaming about how a Kirkland dare try anything with her and the shouting for security.

Instead she lightly touched his cheek before wrapping her arms around his neck.

"You have beautiful eyes," Katyusha Braginski commented before leaning forward and kissing Alfred Kirkland.

Alfred got over his initial shock quickly and moved his hands to her waist. Just as it was starting to get good, the clock started chiming.

"Ah," he pulled away suddenly, "what time is it?"

"Midnight probably," Katyusha said, annoyed and concerned at the same time, "What's wrong?"

"I've got to go." He disentangled himself from her and stood up, grabbing his mask and shoving it on his face.

"Go? But wait! Will I ever see you again?" Tears started forming in her eyes and Alfred didn't like that.

"Yes. Of course. Someday." He swooped down and planted one final kiss on her cheek and whispering, "I'll definitely see you again, no matter what" before he took off into the night.

* * *

Katyusha touched her cheek as he disappeared and wondered where he parked his pumpkin carriage. She questioned if he really meant what he said, but then she noticed the glasses he'd left behind on the fountain. She'd know those glasses anywhere; it'd be hard not to as often as her brother had shouted, cursed, and sometimes burned the face they were usually attached to.

She realized she'd fallen in love with Alfred Kirkland. Her brother wouldn't be too happy about that.

* * *

"Al what took you so long!?" Matt said as Alfred appeared in the kitchen. Toris was next to him by the back door with a worried look on his face. "Did you get lost looking for the bathroom or something? Before midnight means before midnight, not when the clock is striking it! And where are your glasses?"

"Huh? What?" Alfred's mind was still by the fountain, along with his glasses, he just realized. "Um, must've dropped them somewhere."

"Typical. Dad won't be happy that he has to buy you new ones!"

"Oh he can afford it. Hey whatever happened to that guy?"

Matt blushed and looked away, "Wh-what guy?"

"Mr. Beilschmidt slipped him his number," Toris provided. Matthew shot him a death glare.

"Nice! So you gonna call him?"

"O-of course not! It's not like I had a pleasant evening or anything. He's friends with Braginski, after all! Father would be furious if I got involved with anyone that close to him."

"HAHA! Yeah the old man would probably explode with rage if you were making out with his sister or something."

"I never said anything about his sister."

"Then why bring her up? It's not like she's the hottest, most awesome girl you've ever had the chance to meet or anything."

Matt blinked at him, "Alfred where were you all night?"

"HAHA! You're so funny sometimes. C'mon Matt, we should get going," he waved goodbye to Toris and grabbed Matt's arm to drag him through the back door, trying hard not to think about the maiden he left behind.

He said they'd meet again, and he'd make sure they would.


End file.
